New Netflix Doc "The Andy Warhol Diaries" Uses AI to Re-create the Late Artist's Voice

By NOAH BECKER February, 2022

A new documentary on Andy Warhol directed by Andrew Rossi with executive producer Ryan Murphy - is arriving on Netflix (the video trailer can be seen above).

In the words of Warhol it, "looks great." 

The title of the doc is "The Andy Warhol Diaries" and uses the artists voice by feeding it through an AI program to create all-new readings by the late artist. The film is based on the book "The Andy Warhol Diaries" by Andy Warhol and Pat Hackett. 

Because Warhol's diaries are read using the computer AI voice - what we get is Andy reading diary entries in what sounds like his own voice. This is interesting to me on a bunch of levels, not just art related. 

Here are some of my reactions to the trailer:

The trailer for the film starts with a voice saying "Andy Warhol's greatest work of art is Andy Warhol." I'm guessing the voice is Jeffrey Deitch the infamous dealer instrumental in Warhol, Basquiat and Keith Haring's careers.

The trailer continues with Julian Schnabel on screen saying, "He was big." Schnabel himself is big and has done a great job of being a multi-hyphenate. I can't decide if I love his films or his paintings more. 

ART, MUSIC, FILM - FASHION! Blurts out of the film's trailer in a voice-over showing flashes of Helmut Newton-esque models in swimming pools. The fantasy of the jet-set artist in New York is locked in at this point. I continued watching in an almost bit-by-bit manner...

Larry Gagosian: "He created his own style and his own affectations..." 

A clip of rapper/fashion designer/singer Kanye West pops onto the screen "I AM WARHOL!" Scenes of musician Tyler the Creator performing in his Igor wig flash on the screen. Then we get actor Rob Lowe telling us how Warhol is the most famous person of the 20th Century. 

"But I don't think you'll ever figure Warhol out and I hope no-one ever does," says curator Donna DeSalvo. WM